Promises to Keep
by Cheddar the Cheese
Summary: When Edward left in New Moon, there was no way he could have known what was going to happen. Bella learns why people who have been hurt are so dangerous: Because they know they can survive. Character Death. BxEd I WILL FINISH THIS!
1. Chapter 1 The Road Not Taken

Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

Title: Promises to Keep

By: Cheddar the Cheese

Summary: A promise made to a dying man, a girl with nothing left to lose, and a love that won't die. Bella's learns that you can't live your life in mourning. You have to live your life, or die from it.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I do own the plot and any original characters that may pop up.

Note: This story picks on page 353 of the American paperback edition of New Moon. It was originally posted under the same name but I have redone it completely. I had lost my own voice as a writer in trying to copy a style that was nothing like my own. So I pulled the whole thing down and I am going to re work what I have and continue the story. I love you all and please remember to leave a review!

_I shall be telling this with a sigh_

_Somewhere ages and ages hence:_

_Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—_

_I took the one less traveled by,_

_And that has made all the difference._

_-Excerpt from "The Road Not Taken" By Robert Frost_

Chapter one: The Road Not Taken

It is strange to think that things could have ever been different. Time had dimmed the memory and made the pain of those first months after Edward left seem like nothing more than a haze of half remembered lies. I remember Jacob though. I remember every word her ever spoke to me, every nod of his head, and every sigh as I stumbled on nothing. I remember him in such clarity that I sometimes wonder if he ever existed at all. I wonder if these memories, clear and sharp as glass, are only such because I made it all up as a way of breaking out of my pain.

And there was pain. I have known pain in every form: The pain of being bloody and broken on the floor while the fighting continues as your body begins to break down, the pain of being left be the one person I ever loved, the pain of losing my best friend in the whole world, the pain of the guilt that comes with such a lose, the pain of moving on with your life without them, either of them, in it, the pain of watching my friend tortured, the pain of being tortured by a psychotic man, hell bent on breaking me, and the pain of waking up, each morning, knowing that I am happy but my friends never will be.

But in the beginning, Jacob was there to break me out of my pain, and for that, I shall be forever grateful.

I still remember the way he looked that day. His was hair too long and flopping over one eye as he loped toward my car. He kept looking back over his shoulder as if he expected, at any moment, to see someone or something looming out at us from the woods. He was nervous- a blind man would know it, but he kept smiling.

That is the one thing I miss the most about him- his smile. Jacob could smile as the world crumbled around him. He always seemed to find a way to bring me out of myself and into the real world. No one since has ever been able to do that as effortlessly has him.

I had expected Jacob to meet me out front that morning and I was right. When he spotted my car, his wide grin was tinged with relief. He cantered over to my truck and had my door open before I could get my seatbelt undone. I laughed and tried to push the unease in the back of my mind away.

"You're in a good mood this morning," I said.

"You're here. What could be bad about it?" he teased. I had my seatbelt undone and was sliding from the car when he piped up again. "Let's go to the beach," he said with a brightness that almost seemed forced.

"Now?" I asked. "It's still morning. I'm surprised you're even awake," I admitted. I wasn't terribly awake but I was always up at this time.

"Couldn't sleep," he said waving my concern away. He still seemed uneasy though.

"Jacob? Is everything ok? You're never this excited in the morning."

His face fell like I had stumbled upon a secret I wasn't supposed to know. "I'm sorry, Bella. I wasn't going to tell you. Really. I was trying to be upbeat but I can't stop thinking about it."

I pulled my eyebrows together. "That makes no sense, Jacob. You can't stop thinking about what? What's going on? If you're having second thoughts about the cliff diving, we can do it another day," I said.

"Well," he hedged. "Sam and the others found some fresh traces last night. We tracked her all night but we're no closer than we were last night. She's playing with us, Bella. Sam thinks that it might be soon though. He thinks that she can't keep it up. I'm supposed to stay with you today in case she gives them the slip again."

"Oh." I knew I should be afraid but I couldn't find it in me to be truly scared. Jacob was with me. What could happen? It never occurred to me that I might be becoming a little too dependent on supernatural beings to keep me safe. A lot of things never occurred to me.

"But we'll have fun today," Jacob said with that same false brightness as before. "It'll be great, you'll see. It'll be the best day ever!"

We ended up on the beach sitting on the cold sand for a while without talking. The tension in the air was so thick I felt like I was having a hard time breathing. It was like when two people are about to break up and they both know it but neither one wants to start the conversation. Beside me, Jacob was shifting in the sand, acting like he wanted to say something but not sure how to get the words out. I fidgeted with the zipper of my sweatshirt. A few times it felt like he was ready but then he would close his mouth and turn and face back out to the bay.

"Oh, just say it," I snapped. "Whatever it is, just say it."

He looked at me in surprise but then that rueful grin that I had come to know so well spread across his face. "Bella," he said calmly. "I love you. You know that right?" He said it with such a calm voice that I was almost sure that I had imagined the whole morning so far.

My heart felt tight in my chest. "Jacob…"

"I know you don't love me back. I know that. And I understand. But I want you to know, I do love you. I would never leave you. Not for anything in the world."

I felt tears welling up in my eyes but I forced them away. I wasn't going to cry. I was done crying. I swallowed a few times before I could find the breath to answer. "I do love you Jake… It's just that… I do love you… " I sighed. Jacob looked at me with his eyes so full of hope that a part of me died inside as I forced the rest of the words past my lips. "But I could never give you my heart. Not really. Not like you deserve. Someday you will find a girl who will love you with everything she has. She won't be an old broken thing like me."

I could see the tears just beginning to show in his eyes. I felt one traitorous tear build up and take the plunge down the vast expanse of my face. Tears were never known for being very solitary.

"You aren't broken," he said. "And maybe, someday, that girl you're talking about will be you." He grinned widely at me. "And I want you to know that if that day ever comes, I'll be waiting for you. I'd wait forever for you. But I hate waiting. Don't you? Maybe you'll change your mind. Maybe you'll go off to college in a few months and then come back and be ready. Maybe not. But I'll still wait." He graced me with one more disarming grim before jumping to his feet. " Let's go," he said extending a hand to me. "I can't stand making you cry."

"Where are we going?" I asked as I wiped the tears away. I was stronger than this. I knew I sounded confused, but the truth was that I was confused. Could I ever really love him? The lines were becoming blurred. I thought of prom last year, and Jacob holding on to me as we danced. I had loved him that night as a dear friend. But that love was unalloyed and I knew very well that love can change and shift from the love of a friend to the love of a lover very quickly. But was that what I really really wanted?

Suddenly I felt like I couldn't breathe. It was like I could see two roads stretched in front of me- One road was Jacob; And we were happy and laughing but I never knew. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was wondering what could have been. The other road led to nothing. I was alone but there was no fear in that solitude. There was only a sense of waiting. But I what was I waiting for? I felt safe there in that unknown for some reason. "And I took the one less traveled by," I murmured.

"What was that?

"Nothing," I said. "I just remembered something that's all."

I looked up at my friend. He stood in front of me, just watching me. He wasn't as handsome as most people but his face held a kind of unfinished charm that drew me in. His hair was too long and he needed to shave but it seemed to fit him somehow and the whole effect made me feel at home. But was home where I needed to be?

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"I have promises to keep," was all he said as he pulled me to my feet. I misjudged his strength and stumbled headlong into his chest. For a moment, we stood there, neither of us prepared to move. I took in a deep breath and tried to memorize him, as if I knew he wasn't going to be there come morning. I could hear his heartbeat as it slammed into his chest. I took another breath in and pulled back to look in his eyes. They looked pained- as if he knew I was confused but like he also knew that it was going to be more waiting.

"We should do something before we both go out of our minds," he whispered in my ear. The sound sent shivers down my back. "Come on."

We left the beach. As we left, I turned back to look out at the water. It lapped at the shore the same as it always had. Nothing was different, but somehow I felt different. I felt older somehow. But time and tide wait for no one. I looked back at the place we had just vacated and it called me back. There was still a lot to talk about, but a part of me itched to get out of the area. I wanted to run or to fly but not here. I wanted to fly.

In that moment, I made up my mind to leave Forks. I _would_ go away for college- Someplace sunny and warm with no ties to the past. I would be free to run or to fly and live my own life, to make all my own decisions. Suddenly that was the most important thing in the world to me. I wanted to feel alive again and I knew I could never do it here. There was too much pain in Forks. Everywhere I went, I still saw his face. I would be well rid of him. From my place up on that moral high ground, I could almost imagine that I made him up. No one was that perfect, not even someone who had over a hundred years to get it right. Yes, I would leave Forks come the fall. I would be alive again in the fall.

Jacob tugged at my hand in impatience. Maybe I could convince him to go with me, at least for a little while. Part of me wanted him, no, needed him to be there with me. I needed his strength because I didn't have it on my own. I wasn't sure I was strong enough to leave by myself.

Jacob seemed happier as we drove up the cliff. He chatted on about the car- how nice it was running and how he was saving his money to paint it. Maybe white. I hummed in all the right places and he didn't seem to notice the way my mind was already months ahead of us. Maybe we'd go to California- someplace with sun. Or maybe we could head further south. I remembered going to beaches in Texas as a kid and thought that someplace like Galveston or Corpus Christie would be nice. It never occurred to me that Jacob would say no. In my head, he was there, always.

I was so focused on the future that I didn't realize that we had come to the top of the cliffs. It was the same spot that I had seen Sam and the others jumping before. I turned to Jacobin confusion. "I thought you said you wanted to start with something lower," I said. I peered out the window at the cliff. I couldn't see the bottom from my seat but the ocean seemed very far away indeed.

"We could go someplace lower if you think it's safer," he offered. "But I think this will be fun." He was trying to distract me- or himself. I wasn't sure which of us really needed the distraction more.

Safer… the word swirled around my head. Safe was what I didn't want. I could cut every tie to my past that I wanted but there would always be that part of my soul that would sing at the sound of his voice. And I only heard the voice when I wasn't safe.

"No, this is fine." I looked at him and plastered a smile to my face. "Let's go."

And then we were off, running and laughing. He beat me there and I wrinkled my nose at him."No fair."

He laughed. "Anyone ever tell you life isn't fair?" I forced a grim smile through the pain of those words. It seemed so long ago that Edward and I had had that conversation. Jacob's smile faltered at the sight of my face.

"We can leave. We don't have to if you don't want to… I mean we could go home and wait for the others to come home." His hopeful face watched mine for any sign of reluctance but I didn't give him any.

"No," I said shaking my head. "The storm is coming. Besides, we need some fun."

"After you then," he said with a wide grin.

Up here, the air was clear and crisp and pure. It pulled my hair toward the water like it was taking the hand of a reluctant child. I could smell the salt on the wind and I knew I was about to fly.

I stepped up to the edge, and waited for a moment for his voice to come and talk me out of it. But nothing happened. I raised my arms like I was about to do a beautiful swan dive, but still there was silence. Always silence.

Then I was running. Off the cliff, off the edge of the world. My arms failed for a moment before the sensation of flight took over. And there was no voice as I fell.

It didn't feel like I was falling. Instead, I felt like a bird- free and safe with the wind whipping my hair back. I smiled a true smile for the first time in months.

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	2. Chapter 2 Mad World

Title: Promises to Keep

By: Cheddar the Cheese

Summary: A promise made to a dying man, a girl with nothing left to lose, and a love that won't die. Bella's learns that you can't live your life in mourning. You have to live your life, or die from it.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I do own the plot and any original characters that may pop up.

Note: This story picks on page 353 of the American paperback edition of New Moon. It was originally posted under the same name but I have redone it completely. I had lost my own voice as a writer in trying to copy a style that was nothing like my own. So I pulled the whole thing down and I am going to rework what I have and continue the story. I love you all and please remember to leave a review!

All around me are familiar faces  
Worn out places, Worn out faces  
Bright and early for the daily races  
Going nowhere, Going nowhere  
Their tears are filling up their glasses  
No expression, No expression  
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow  
No tomorrow, No tomorrow  
And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad  
These dreams in which I'm dying, Are the best I've ever had  
I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take  
When people run in circles it's a very very  
Mad World, Mad World

-Mad World from the Donnie Darko Soundtrack

I didn't feel like I was falling. Instead, I felt like a bird- free and safe with the wind whipping my hair back. I smiled a true smile for the first time in months. I looked down at the water.

It looked like it was burning. Red flames danced on the waves. It was all coming towards me a frightening rate and fear took over. I half expected to hear his voice then, but there was nothing there- Just my own mind screaming in terror.

I screamed aloud as the wind shrieked past me. I didn't look down. I couldn't. I looked up at Jacob, but I couldn't see him.

From above me, I heard him yelling my name as he dove after me, but it was too late. By the time I finally saw his body launch over the edge, I was already in the water.

I felt the impact like a thousand hands grabbing me. Laughter bubbled around me and the water swirled red and black as stone pipes pulled my body under. My mind knew I should fight but my body could not react. I heard a loud crash in the distant nearness above me and I felt like was being torn to pieces. My lungs burned and my eyes refused to open. I tried to focus on what was happening, but my mind was crying out, he wasn't there! I jumped, and he wasn't there to catch me. He was never going to be there.

Then everything that had been holding me, let go. For a moment, I panicked. I couldn't figure out where I was. I didn't even know which way the surface was. I took a mental breath and forced my eyes open. Bubbles go up in water. And there were bubbles drifting slowly away from me. I thought I saw something before me but then the need for air won out and I swam with everything I had in me.

I may not be the most graceful person in the world, but I had always liked to swim. And I was good. I could do things in the water that I could never do on dry land. I felt like a fish on land. Now, I used every ounce of strength that I possessed to pull my way through the water. I pushed it down behind me and forced my way up. I broke the surface as a wave of dizziness washed over me. Air burned down to my lungs and I tried to clear my eyes but I could only see vague shapes in the distance. The water was cold and I felt icy panic begin to claw at my gut. Jacob had been right behind me.

"Jacob?" I could feel the edge of hysteria creeping into my voice. "Jacob!" I was turning around but there was nothing there, no sign of him. Panic was clawing at my gut and I knew that the more I thrashed around, the less likely I was to see him, but I couldn't stop the terrifying thought that he might not make it up.

From where I was, I couldn't see the shore but I could feel the water beneath me churning and broiling up below me. Bubbles swarmed around me and I forced my arms, sluggish with fear and exhaustion, to drag myself away from the rocks. I knew I had to move but every motion felt like it was only taking my closer to the danger that lurked beneath me and further from Jacob, wherever he was.

They broke the surface of the water not five feet away from me. I screamed as the sudden shock of seeing Victoria and Jacob fighting in the water. The water spraying off of them hit me like needles and I fought the urge to scream again. How had she gotten here? Jacob, in his reddish wolf form was snapping at her. Blood turned the water red as the stripes on a flag in July. I wondered briefly if there were sharks that I should be worried about. I almost laughed. Victoria would kill me before the sharks could even get close. I turned to where I thought the shore must be and was met with an incredible sight.

Five wolves, in various states of phasing, were streaming down the beach. Sam, large as a bear, was in the lead but the rest were close on his heels.

Not a minute later, the water seemed full of wolves. Sam was next to me, the only human among them, pulling me away towards the shore. No one is graceful stumbling around the surf. I fell more than I was on my feet- a situation that wasn't helped by the fact that I kept turning back to look at the carnage behind us. It wasn't long before I felt the sand beneath my feet. One of my shoes was gone and I pulled the other off as I stumbled to the beach. I stood there, shivering with cold in fear as I watched, helplessly, as Jacob began to lose the fight.

"Go! Go to Emily," Sam said gruffly. He shoved me once more towards the beach before he was gone beneath the waves, swimming back into the fray. But I didn't move. I couldn't. I was rooted to the spot. From where I stood, I could hardly see anything. The water churned and the air was full of splashing and the sharp yips of pain. How do you kill a being that cannot drown when you cannot feel the sand beneath you? The fight pulled closer and closer to the shore and the wolves had ground to work with. A dim part of me knew I should move but I was still stuck like glue, watching and praying.

The water crashed around them and I wondered how long it could take. Victoria was hopelessly out numbered. I had no soon thought this then the waters stilled. The waves crashed around the silent figures in the water. I began to count. I had to do it twice and hadn't even fished the panicked numbers before I was moving, back out into the water. I stopped right at the edge. The gentle waves lapped at my toes. The foam on top of the water was faintly pink.

They were returning- some of the boys (for they all looked terribly young as they stumbled, naked and cold, toward me) held gruesome souvenirs in their hands. Parts of Victoria, I realized. Parts of her that were still moving and twitching as they came closer. But it was the shape in Sam's arms that brought the hysteria back to the surface.

He looked dead, there in Sam's arms. His head was thrown back and his chest was criss-crossed with more bloody cuts than I could count. I knew he could heal himself quickly, but there was so much blood that I began to wonder if anything could survive that.

I started screaming. No words- just pain and fear. Jacob! Not Jacob. He wasn't moving. He wasn't moving! I threw myself at him just as Sam was setting him down in the sand. I took my best friend's face in my hands. He was cold and clammy, but his eyes were open. His eyes found mine and he gave me that same lopsided grin that always brought a smile to my face. I breathed a momentary sigh of relief.

"I promised I would save you," he whispered. I had to lean in closer to hear the words.

"When?" I asked softly. "When did you promise that?" I strained my memory for a promise, but my mind wasn't focusing on anything other than the present.

"When I gave you my heart. Bella, I have loved you since that first day on this beach. Do you remember?" is eyes fluttered against the light.

"I remember, Jacob." I didn't trust my voice to say more. The tears were back but I didn't wipe them away. I didn't want to let go of him.

"I knew you could never love me like you love him, but I had hoped, maybe you could try."

"I do love you Jacob. I do. I'm so sorry. I love you. Don't you dare leave me. I love you!"

Jacob's smile was sad as he spoke: "You don't mean that, Bella. Not really. Promise me that you won't cry. Later I mean. You've got a lot of living to do if you're going to live for both of us now."

"Don't even think about it," I murmured. "You'll be fine. It's just a few scratches. You'll be up and fixing cars and complaining about my truck in a week, tops." Please let him be ok, I prayed silently.

"Promise me, Bella. Please." He voice was weaker with each word. I couldn't even see his face for the tears streaming down my face. I felt those first few rain drops fall but I didn't care. "Promise you'll get out of here and really live for me. Promise, Bella."

"I promise, Jacob." I would have promised him anything in that moment. I felt my heart clenching up and shattering into a thousand pieces over and over again.

A smile spread across his face and he slipped into unconsciousness. I turned around to find Sam. I knew I could never carry Jacob to the car on my own. I looked back at his sleeping face. I knew that if we were going to save him, every second mattered.

The other werewolves of La Push were grouped around the fire pit where Jacob and I had first talked about the cold ones and the wolf people. A brilliant purple fire soared into the air. I never imagined how a vampire dies until that day. I found that the only emotion I could find in my heart was acceptance. It was all over.

Victoria was gone. I was finally free from the Vampires. Forever. They would never creep into my room to rock me to sleep at night or drag me on wild shopping trips or try to kill me ever again. I was free, but…

Pain gripped my heart. "Sam!" He turned to me with soot smudged across his face. The rain ran streaks through the ashes. He looked like a picture I had seen once of a warrior after a great battle. But the battle wasn't over. After the battle, there was still the wounded to tend to.

Sam was by my side in an instant, scooping Jacob up. I started shaking. Sam was barking orders and someone was by my side, asking me where the car was. Where were the keys? I didn't know. I didn't care. I stumbled after Sam as he retreated quickly through the trees. I lost him in a matter of seconds but Quil was there, pushing me into a car and driving me to Billy's house.

I had lapsed into shock and sat, shaking and crying on the couch. I kept getting up, trying to see him, but someone was always there, pushing me back down, wrapping a blanket around me and pushing something hot into my hands. But I couldn't eat. Emily whisked in and out of the tiny bedroom while the boys sat with me, giving comfort and praying. Someone was singing, an old prayer that I didn't understand. It didn't help.

Less than an hour after we had gotten to the house, Sam came out of the bedroom. He looked at me with such an intense sadness that I felt everything inside of me cracking open. I threw the blanket off and rushed for the door, but Sam caught me before I could form the thoughts of what I had planned to do. "No, Bella. It's over. It's time to keep going. You promised."

So I did. I promised. I promised, Jacob.

TBC?


	3. Chapter 3 Sail Me Away

Title: Promises to Keep

By: Cheddar the Cheese

Interlude: Sail Me Away

Summery: A single moment can mean nothing or everything. Bella finds a way to live after a part of her dies.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I do own the plot and any original characters that may pop up.

Note: Lucrezia Boria was a real person. She was suspected of sleeping with her father the pope and her brother among others. It was said that she had a special ring she used to hid poison in that she used to pour into people's wine if they got too close to the truth. You should look her up online. Her whole family makes vampires look tame. She died in 1519 after seemingly repenting her former way of life and taking holy vows. She was in her late 30s or early 40s when she died.

Also: This chapter is only an interlude. It falls not long after the Cullens leave Forks.

When love is lost and dreams are cast  
Like bruised and battered pieces left to die,  
When hands that reach out are betrayed  
How can my tortured soul survive?

There's only thing left  
And that's the one thing that you needed most of all,  
For the freedom that you gained  
Is the loss that led me aimless to the shore.

And I'm borne high on these waves  
Swept by the wind and alone.  
Oh, sail me away, carry me back to my home.  
I'm tired, I've been torn,  
A cruel, wretched storm churns like a gale in my bones.  
Oh sail me away, carry me back to my home.  
-Sail Me Away from the musical _Lestat_

"Dr. Cullen to the front desk please," the harsh metallic voice came over the loud speaker. Sighing as he stood up from the small round table in the break room of the Stanford's Children's hospital break room, Carlisle Cullen made his way down the pastel hallway to the front nurses' station. It had been a long night and it seemed that things were only going to get worse as he began to smell the ever so faint scent of decay that seemed to come from the oldest of vampires.

She was short, with long wavy hair. She looked like she had stepped out of an Italian Renaissance painting. Her eyes were hidden behind dark glasses but he knew they would be red. The two nurses behind the desk were uncomfortable as they tried to ignore her and go about their work.

"Carlisle," she said softly. He couldn't tell from that single word, what it was that she wanted.

"Lucrezia," he replied calmly. "What a surprise. What can I do for you?"

"Couldn't we go someplace more privet?" she asked glancing at the two nurses. Maybe it was the tilt of her head, or the slight tremor of fear that ran through her lightly accented words, but he found himself nodding.

"Let's go outside. It's a nice night out."

She didn't say anything as they wandered down the halls towards the staff patio-deserted at this time of night. Carlisle found himself trying desperately not to think about her- what her being here might mean.

_He remembered the last time he saw her. The room was crowded with vampires and humans alike- Every one of them dripping with diamonds and lace. The gowns were large and French with wide panniers stretching out as wide as six feet. The men were resplendent in velvets and silks. The jewelry in the room could have fed most of England for a month at least. He remembered the way his long frock coat swept the back of his knees. He remembered every detail of the embroidery on his vest. He remembered the hushed whispers that ran around the cavernous room and the way that the party had the air of something bigger about it: Like they were all waiting for the guest of honor. But everyone was already here._

_She was standing in a corner, watching as she always did: her soft white dress heavy with beads that caught the light with every slight movement. It wasn't as wide as the others and something about it harkened back to what and who she had once been. Court life was nothing new for her. She was standing there, next to him, trying in vain to get him to listen to her. But He was too interested in whatever new excitement had been cooked up for them that night._

"_Let's go," she begged him. "Before- Carlisle, please." Her dress wasn't as soft as it looked. The beads scratched his skin as she tried to tug on his arm. He ignored her as he peered about the room. "You don't understand," She hissed. "Aro, he-"_

Snapping abruptly into the present, Carlisle snarled at her. "If you want to talk, then do it, Lucrezia, but don't bother with your tricks. Say whatever it is you have to say and get out of here. It shouldn't be hard to get back to Italy from here."

"Where is the girl, Carlisle?" He was shocked. There was no way he could have anticipated her words.

"What girl?" he asked even though he felt sure that he already knew.

"The human girl. The one your son was so ready to kill for. Is he ready to die for her as well? Is he ready to die for you?"

"What are you talking about? How do the Volturi even know about Is- the girl?"

She gave a soft laugh. "They know because a little bird told them. Alfonso has asked for her head. His original plan didn't work and now he's going after you through your family. He figures it is the best way to wear you down."

"You're mad," he hissed. "Alfonso's never had any quarrel with me. And even if he did, why would he wait so long? It's been almost two hundred years, Lucrezia. I have done nothing. Even back then, I did nothing to him."

"But what if he thought you did? What if that night-"

"-That night never happened! Nothing happened. We-"

"-You and I both know that nothing happened, but he doesn't. He thinks, he still thinks that you and I…" But she didn't finish. It wasn't like her to be subtle about such things.

Carlisle sighed. "Why are you here? If it was to warn me about Alfonso, you've done your job. Go back to the Vultori, Lucrezia. I don't want to see you ever again. You only bring trouble."

"I no longer answer to the Vultori," she said levelly. "I haven't since you left."

He was truly shocked now. She was one of those that would never leave the Vultori. Not for anything. "And why is that? A gift like yours I thought that Aro would keep you around at any cost."

"There was a baby," she said watching his face closely for his reaction. "It got around that I had stolen him right out from under the noses of the guard. Well you can imagine what happens then. I was banished from Volterra. But I still have my friends. If there is one thing my father taught me, it was that one always must have spies with the enemy."

"A baby?" Carlisle asked his voice tight.

"Yes," she mocked. "About so big with large brown eyes and not much hair. For all their civility, they thought it would be a lark to drink from a baby in front of a thousand witnesses. Only the child disappeared before anyone even knew it was there. I got blamed while Alfonso followed the only other person in the room who was missing. You. I've always wondered why you didn't think to watch the child yourself. Instead you dropped him on a doorstep and ran to God only knows where. Alfonso hated you. But he had a plan and you gave him the key to destroy you."

Carlisle was shocked beyond words. As Lucrezia's story poured out, all the memories of that horrible night began to wash through his mind. He hadn't thought that he'd be followed. He hadn't thought about much beyond the tiny sleeping baby laying on the bench. He knew he'd never be free of the guilt if that child died while he watched.

In London, in his old neighborhood, he found a young couple with a few other children. He'd left money and a short note saying only that the child had no name and no hope save God. And then, as she had said, he left. America was in the beginnings of its fight for freedom at the time and freedom was a word that rang true and potent to Carlisle.

"What plan?" He asked. "You keep talking about a plan. What plan?"

"Alfonso was patient. He waited until the boy grew up and he turned him. He trained him to be as strong a tracker as he was. And when the boy was ready, he sent him out in the world to find you and hurt you. From what I heard, he did find you but he was distracted. Nearly two hundred years and he was distracted by a little girl. Maybe he thought she was yours, I don't know. But your son took care of him."

"James? You mean that I failed him anyway. I didn't save him, I helped kill him" Horror washed through his bones.

"He would have killed you in the end. But it isn't over. Alfonso's out for blood. He's going to start with the girl and work his way through your family, one by one, until you are the only one left. He has the blessing of the Vultori provided he does it quietly."

"So what's your stake in all this? I don't see how it benefits you at all."

"I figure if I'm watching the girl, I get first crack at him. He left me that night and let me take the fall. Do you know what they did to me? Do you have any concept of how long they kept me there under that city before they decided to let me free. They would have killed me but for who I was. I want him to suffer every inch of what I did but I will not be as merciful as they were to me. I will kill him."

Carlisle's mind was reeling. Esme, and Edward were here with him. The others had scattered to live happily married in different places- Jasper and Alice in Louisiana and Rosalie and Emmet were in New York. Bella was- who knew. Chances were good that she had left Forks but she might still be there.

"I don't know where Bella is," he admitted. "Can I trust you not to hurt her? To not even let her know you are there? For all that we hurt her by leaving, I will not see any harm come to her."

"You have my word that I will not harm her. I'll simply be there for when Alfonso catches up to her."

"You'll need to be a step ahead of him."

"I will be. He will never best me again, Carlisle. I made a lot of mistakes in my life, but he was the worst." She turned as if to leave. "I'm glad you found happiness, Carlisle. I really am."

He searched her face for any hint of deceit but found none. He nodded. "Thank you, Lucrezia. I hope someday you find yours."

"It's too late. God does not forgive one such as me, Carlisle. We both know that. I lived too hard and died a sinner. But I'm not afraid of God. I lost that fear a long time ago."

"So what are you afraid of?" But she was gone, out into the night in search of a girl she'd never seen before.

Carlisle sighed as he pulled out a tiny silver cell phone to call his wife. "I love you. Be safe."

TBC?? Please Review!


	4. Chapter 4 Independence Day

Chapter two: By My Side

Title: Promises to Keep

By: Cheddar the Cheese

Summery: A single moment can mean nothing or everything. Bella finds a way to live after a part of her dies.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I do own the plot and any original characters that may pop up.

Note: I know that is chapter is short, but it needed to happen or the story isn't going to go anyplace. I promise that the last chapter will make sense soon. Or at least by the end of the story ;-) Please leave a review!

Now I ain't sayin' it's right, or it's wrong  
But maybe it's the only way  
Talk about your revolution  
It's Independence Day...

Let freedom ring  
Let the white dove sing  
Let the whole world know that today is the day of a reckoning  
Let the weak be strong  
Let the right be wrong  
Roll the stone away  
let the guilty pay  
It's Independence Day

Roll the stone away...

It's Independence Day...

-Independence Day by Martina McBride.

It was clear that Charlie did not really believe the lie that we fed him. It didn't make sense in his mind. Drowning victims don't have gashes across their chest. Never mind that by the time Jacob had finally died, the cuts had healed until they looked like shiny pink scars. Charlie refused to believe that we had told him the whole story, but I refused to care. Sam invented the story and fed it to him. I just stuck to my simplified- I didn't see what happened- story, but it hurt to lie about it.

The night before the funeral, I didn't sleep. I paced the floor in my room until I knew every grain in the floor. I played all the CDs that we had listened to together as soft as I could so I didn't wake up my father. I wrapped myself in an old quilt and pretended that he was there; making me laugh at the stories he was telling me. I kept looking out my window. I wanted to leave before the sun came up. I didn't know where I would go or what I would do but I wanted to get out of the house.

A plan was forming in my mind and I moved without thinking. Clothes- I would need clothes. I looked around the room and found one of the large duffle bags I had brought with me from Phoenix. I began to throw clothes into without paying much attention to what I was grabbing. Shoes were next and then down to the bathroom: toothbrush, shampoo, in it all went. Back upstairs for another look around. I grabbed my pillow and the old quilt I had been wrapped up in earlier.

Downstairs again I looked around for anything else I wanted. A muffled sound came from Charlie's bedroom. Charlie! I couldn't just leave could I? What about Charlie?

I shook my head. No. This was going to be about me. I had always put everyone else's problems and concerns in front of my own. It was time to do what was right for me for a change.

I left a note. I know how cliché, but I didn't have the strength to face him. He would know soon enough anyway.

_Dad-_

_I had to get away for a while. I can't stay here anymore. There's nothing left for me in Forks. Don't be mad and don't worry. I will call you soon. I love you._

_-Bella_

And I was gone. Into my truck and roaring off into the night. I headed east, driving all day until I was too tired to keep my eyes open. I pulled off the road and parked deep in the woods and slept in the truck. I woke up as the sun was setting and kept going, leaving a blazing sunset behind me.

I wandered for a week or so before I broke down and called him. He wasn't mad. I think all the mad had gone out of him by that time.

"I just want to understand why, Bella. Why wasn't I enough?"

"I'm sorry, Dad. Really, I am. But I need some time for myself. I need to figure some things out and I can't do it there. I need to be away from all those memories for a while."

"You call me every week, do you hear me? I want to know where you are. And if you need anything, day or night, you call me."

"I will, Dad. I promise."

And so it went. I called him on Sundays and we talked. Occasionally he would try to talk me into coming home but I told him in no uncertain terms, that I was going to do this my way.

I traveled across a lot of the Northwest United states for the first month. By June I was heading South. And the further South I got, the better I began to feel. I was feeling like my old self. The pain that I had wrapped around myself for so long was beginning to lessen. I woke up every morning and I found that I was excited to be moving. Life in Forks never really changed and the people in it were just the same. I was ready to change.

With every mile and every day, it got easier. I found that thinking of Jacob no longer brought a stab of pain to my heart. I was glad to have known him- for however brief a time. I had known him and he had saved me in every way that a person can be saved. He was my Jack Dawson and I intended to be Rose. I would go riding on the beach and when I was old, I would surround myself with the pictures of the life that I had lived for us both. I would keep my promise to him. And every day when I got up and started my truck, he would be there, telling me I needed a new car and a place to stay- that I needed to stop driving and start living.

* * *

My truck died. That was how I finally faced the facts that it was time to stop looking for life and let life come for me. I found myself in Galveston Texas on a bright Fourth of July morning and fell in love with the city. I spent the day wandering the beaches and shops. The air here was so clear that it felt like the sky went on forever and ever. The water was so warm that I almost, for a brief moment, considered going for a swim. But I didn't. The water, any water, still held that edge of fear for me. But as I walked, and watched as little children pulled hermit crabs from the shallows, I almost went in. Almost

Looking around at all the happy people, I made up my mind to stay, at least for a little while. I could find a job and a place to live. I was getting tired of moving all the time. It would be nice to have some people my own age to talk to and be normal with for a while. I could be happy here and I could pretend that I had never moved to Forks. And so I did.

I took my truck to a local man who said he could fix it but it would take a while. The parts on a truck that old weren't just lying around you know. I told him not to hurry. He grinned. It was the kind of project that he loved, I could tell. Looking around his shop, I could almost see Jacob poking his head into every corner and telling me what it all was. I smiled as I left Mr. Lawson's garage. I knew my truck was in good hands.

I found a place to live not too far from the beach and found a job working in one of a dozen cheap shell shop down by the pier. It was nothing fancy, and that suited me just fine. The pace of the city suited me. The people were friendly without asking too many questions. I think that most of them assumed I had graduated last year and was now looking for something to do with the rest of my life. I didn't correct them.

In August when the local High Schools started back up, I decided against going. I'd had enough of schools for a while. Charlie wasn't happy when I told him and he threatened to come and get me but somehow I convinced him that it was all going to work out. I'd get my GED and I had already found a job waiting tables at a hotel near my apartment. Between the two jobs, I would be fine. I was happier here than I had been in a long time. I think in the end, it was the thought that I was happy that made him not push the issue.

And so I found myself in Galveston, working two jobs and studying for my GED at night. And I really was happy. I even began to make a few friends with the people I worked with: Annie and her boyfriend Rick, who lived across the hall from me, and Emily who worked with me at the hotel. And Ian. Yes, I guess that as much as I'd like to forget Ian, I can't very well tell the story without him.

Every morning that summer and into the fall, I woke up early and went walking on the beach just to clear my head. It was a time when I could be alone- away for the world and the pain and the memories.

Ian was one of the lifeguards. I passed him every morning when he went swimming in the warm gulf waters before starting his day. We would wave or smile at each other as we passed but as time went on, it was a hello and how are you? One day, after about a month of this, he asked my name.

I was almost late for work that morning we had talked so long. Emily saw my face when I came in and wanted to know all about him. So I told her about the cute lifeguard on the beach and found myself confused. I didn't know what to feel any more. For a moment, I felt like getting in my truck and leaving. But I didn't. I went back to work and at the end of the day, I went home and lay in my bed, not moving, for hours.

I didn't know what it was that I was feeling for Ian, but it felt somehow like I was betraying my feelings for Edward. I groaned. It didn't matter what my feelings for Edward were, he didn't love me. He never had. It was all just some kind of lark for him- his human girlfriend. I didn't mean anything to him. I sighed and rolled over to watch the clear moonlight spill across my floor.

So if he never loved me, I wasn't really betraying anything by having feelings for Ian- even if nothing happened- that night, far away from Forks and all the pain of the past few months, I was finally free of Edward Cullen.

TBC??


	5. Chapter 5 And So It Goes

Title: Promises to Keep

By: Cheddar the Cheese

Chapter Four: And so it goes

Summery: A single moment can mean nothing or everything. Bella finds a way to live after a part of her dies.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I do own the plot and any original characters that may pop up.

Note: So now that I've got all the back-story out of the way, it is on to the plot! Yay plot!

I have this story mostly finished. It's the first thing I've written in a long time. The past year has been the hardest thing I've ever faced. It's just been in the past month or so that I can function normally. I just wanted to say thank you to the (few) people who have taken the time to review this story and add it to their favorites lists. I want you all to know that every email and review means the world to me. I know the plot seems rocky right now but I promise it will all work itself out. Thank you.

In every heart there is a room  
A sanctuary safe and strong  
To heal the wounds from lovers past  
Until a new one comes along

I spoke to you in cautious tones  
You answered me with no pretense  
And still I feel I said too much  
My silence is my self defense

And every time I've held a rose  
It seems I only felt the thorns  
And so it goes, and so it goes  
And so will you soon I suppose

-And So It Goes by Billy Joel

I could feel the blush on my face when I walked into the kitchen at the hotel that morning. I had been so flustered after my walk on the beach that morning that I found myself barely on time for work. The Costumers in my sections were all regulars so they knew that I occasionally tripped while carrying an order. I was just another part of the flow at the Grand Hotel. But since all my tables were regulars, they felt the need to tease me about my red face.

"I hope he's worth it, honey," one of the red hat ladies whispered to me as I passed. I felt the burn creep up from my collar again and she chuckled.

Emily, of course, not only noticed but knew why. "It's him isn't it? It's lifeguard boy! Did he ask you out? I knew it!" She was grinning and dancing wildly about the room. The dining room had cleared out after the breakfast rush and we were restocking tables. "So, when's the big date?"

"It's not really a date. I mean, I don't think it is. We're gonna catch a movie."

"A movie is a date. He likes you. Ian doesn't date anyone. I went to high school with him."

"You mean ever? Like I'm his first?" Somehow that thought was scarier than going on a date at all.

"Don't be silly, Bella. I mean, he dated some in high school and then he went out with Melanie Wilson for a long time and then she left for college and they broke up last year- I think- anyway, he hasn't dated since then."

"So why me?"

"Why not? You're pretty and you're nice and you're not falling over yourself trying to get at him like a lot of the tourists who come down here. Falling yes, but not over him." She winked at me. I resisted the urge to throw a sugar packet at her head.

"I just don't see why he'd be interested in me," I said.

"Emily pretty much had it right," said a deeper voice from behind us. The flush was back in full force.

"What?" I said. I pretty sure it came out more of a squeak so I swallowed and tried again. "She did?"

"Pretty much," Ian said. "She left out the part where I like talking to you in the mornings too. And watching you smile. That's nice too."

I turned around but Emily had slipped back into the kitchen so I could fend for myself. I was sure she and the rest of the staff were peering at us through the tiny windows in the doors.

"So…" I said as I turned back to Ian. He grinned at me. It wasn't the half grin that I had loved so about… HIM. It was a full on- ten thousand megawatts of stardust- kind of smile.

"I forgot to give you my number," he said. And he handed me a scrap of paper. His handwriting was messy and his name and number were scrawled over the page. I smiled. It was so natural. This is how boys write. Messy and eager- not like Edgar Allen Poe's early drafts of "the Raven".

"Thanks," I said trying to will my flush away. It wasn't working. I found myself smiling at him.

"So," he said, his mission accomplished and the nervousness sneaking in. "I guess I see you, then."

"I'll call you," I promised. He left me with one last bright grin before he turned to leave. I watched him go.

I could hear them all giggling behind me as I sank into a chair. I had a date. A real date with a real-live boy. I giggled at the thought. Live- that'd be a new one for me.

Emily was grinning wickedly at me. "Please say you aren't going to wear that old blue sweater of yours! Please tell me you have another shirt you wear when you aren't working!" She begged. I looked at her in shock. Had I really been wearing it that much?

When I got home that night I pulled out the sweater in question and looked at it as if I'd never seen it before. I was falling apart. There were loose threads and there was a hole under one of the arms. I didn't think that I had been wearing it that much. It had been Edward's favorite.

I threw it away in the dumpster outside so that I wouldn't be tempted to save it later. I was cutting old ties today. It was the last thing I had that really reminded me of him. I realized as I walked purposefully down the hall back to my apartment, what a fool I had been. He had never loved me. Never. And I found, somewhat to my surprise, that the thought didn't hurt as much as I thought it should.

I called Ian that night. I'm sure there is some kind of rule about how long you're supposed to wait but I didn't care. We were going out Friday night to catch a new movie- Maybe dinner afterwards. I fell asleep with a smile for the first time in ages.

The next morning, he was there at the beach as I walked.

"Hey, Bella! Come swimming with me!" He called.

I smiled. "I don't swim," I told him. "Besides, it's the middle of November. Who goes swimming in November?"

"Everyone. It's the Gulf. You've lived here for almost five months and you still haven't gone swimming yet?" I shook my head. He laughed, with his head thrown back- completely at ease with who he was. "I promise you, Bella Swan, I will get you in the water. People say that the water here can heal just about anything."

"Yes," I said. "But it's still cold when you get out of the water. What with is being winter and all. Maybe in summer," I hedged. Maybe by then I'd be ready.

"May then," he said. "I get you in the water by May."

Friday night rolled around and I found I was nervous. I didn't know what to take or to wear or to do with my hair. I tried on everything I own twice before settling on a green shirt and my nicer jeans, He was at my door right at seven to pick me up and I found it was easy to talk to him as we drove. He liked Linkin Park and Green Day. His favorite color was green and I was suddenly glad I had chosen to wear that color. I'd have to find time to go shopping, I thought idly. Assuming we went out again, that was.

We had fun. The movie was horrible and we spent all of dinner making fun of it. Ian did a fairly credible impersonation of the leading man's awful British accent and we both laughed until our sides hurt. He paid for both dinner and the movie. It was nice.

When we had finished eating, Ian suggested we go for a walk. "Let's head down to the pier. Have you ever seen Galveston at night?"

"Only on my way home," I admitted.

"That's a crime. We have to fix that. There is nothing more incredible than looking at the city from the pier. Come on." He took my hand and led me off towards the beach. We took our shoes off and ran, hand-in-hand down the sand. There were plenty of lights along the shore and we saw other couples walking, most more sedate than us, down the beach.

He led me along the sand until we got to the pier. We didn't bother with our shoes as we made the short trek to the end of the pier.

He was right: It was one of the singular most amazing things I had ever seen. The city of Galveston stretched out before us with every light reflected back onto the water of the Gulf of Mexico. The waves turned those lights into glittering silver stars that danced all around us. Above me, the sky stretched, endless and hopeful overhead. I had found peace here.

"Do you like it?" Ian asked me. He was standing behind me as if he wanted to wrap his arms around me but didn't dare. I took a step back and leaned against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"I love it. This is amazing. Thank you, Ian."

He could feel him smile as his arms slid around me. "I'm glad. I come here at night sometimes when I can't sleep. It's like the stars and the lights are dancing. And I'm right in the middle of it all."

"It's very humbling," I said.

"How so?" he asked.

"It's so big. I've never seen so much sky before I moved here."

"You should try driving across the state some time. Most of it is flat as a plate and you look around and all you see is grass and sky. Most people come to Texas for one reason or another but there's something about this place that makes them stay."

"I could stay here," I said. I wasn't sure if I mean tin Texas or on that pier.

"Me too," he said softly.

I turned around to look at him. He wasn't that much taller than me, putting him at about five eight. His blond hair was messy from the wind and his brown eyes danced as he watched me. I felt my arms sliding around him. I wanted to kiss him. I was going to kiss him. I didn't care that it was our first date or that every guy I had ever loved had left me- tonight, none of it mattered. I wanted to be loved tonight and Ian was there- he was warm under his sweatshirt and the hard lines of his body felt safe and somehow right.

"Bella?" cried an incredulous voice from behind me. "Is that you? Is it really you? Thank goodness we found you!"

I turned around quickly to stare at a face I thought I would never see again. A flurry of emotions pounded my heart as I took in what I was seeing. "Alice?"

Please Review.


	6. Chapter 6 You'll Think of Me

Title: Promises to Keep

By: Cheddar the Cheese

Chapter Five: You'll Think Of Me

Summery: A single moment can mean nothing or everything. Bella finds a way to live after a part of her dies.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I do own the plot and any original characters that may pop up.

Note: So things are starting to come together. This story goes out to everyone who lost their homes in Texas. A lot of the places I'm talking about here are gone now. I grew spending my summers in Galveston and it breaks my heart to see what has happened there. Please review.

I went out driving trying to clear my head  
I tried to sweep out all the ruins that my emotions left  
I guess I'm feeling just a little tired of this  
And all the baggage that seems to still exist  
It seems the only blessing I have left to my name  
Is not knowing what we could have been  
What we should have been  
So

Take your records, take your freedom  
Take your memories I don't need'em  
Take your space and take your reasons  
But you'll think of me  
And take your cat and leave my sweater  
'Cause we have nothing left to weather  
In fact I'll feel a whole lot better  
But you'll think of me

-You'll Think of Me by Keith Urban

The anger won out. My blood pounded in my ears. How dare she show her face to me! In some ways her leaving had hurt worse than Edward's. She was supposed to be my friend and friends don't leave. Not without stopping to make sure everything was going to be alright first. Without thought, I took one step closer to her and hit her right across the face.

"Ow!" I cried, somewhat shocked that I had even been able to hit her. Alice's face was a mask of remorse. I hated her more suddenly for just standing there and taking the hit. It wasn't like her.

A wave of clam suddenly came over me and stood there, breathing heavily trying to remember why I was so mad. It was Alice! She was back!

"Stop it, Jasper!" Alice called into the dark. Jasper stepped out of the shadows behind her. His face was passive but I was suddenly back in control of my own emotions.

Looking from one to the other I was getting angrier every second. "Go away!" I yelled at them. I knew I sounded childish but I knew also that it would hurt less this way. They would only leave again. "Do you have any idea what you all did to me? I'm not going through that again when you decide that you're bored or whatever. I'm not doing it!" I'm pretty sure I was hysterical by that point but I didn't care. I took off at a run.

I made it all the way back to the sand before I tripped and fell. Ian was there only a second behind me. He carefully pulling me to my feet but I was crying-sobbing- so hard that my knees wouldn't hold me. He put his arms around me and we both slid down into the cool sand.

He just held me as I cried myself out. I waves pounded the shore and I could feel the mist mixing with my tears as the slid down my face. Alice and Jasper didn't come back.

When my sobs had quieted, I began to talk. "I was so in love with him," I admitted. "I thought that… that maybe we'd get married or something. I don't know. But It was just a game for him. He never loved me. I was just a game for his to pass the time with. He never really loved me."

Ian smoothed my hair back. "I know. It was the same for me. I thought I could have everything with her. I'd have moved to Austin to be with her but she said it was too much. That I was crowding her."

I looked at him. His face was passive as he looked out at the water. I felt something inside of me cracking. Like all the walls I had built up around my heart were starting to come down.

"Alice is his sister. She was my best friend. When they left, she didn't even say good bye. Who does that? Who is such a monster that they won't even say good bye?" I was shouting into the dark, praying that she would hear me.

But Ian was there, holding me as I lost it. "Does it ever get easier?" I whispered into the night. "Does the missing them ever stop?" I wasn't just talking about Alice and Edward. Jacob's face floated in my mind.

"It gets easier. You have to remember why you loved them to begin with- why they made you laugh. Remembering the good times means that they never really leave you."

"I'm sorry about tonight. I was really having fun until-"

Ian laughed softly. "Me too. But we've got plenty of time. We'll get it right next time."

"Next time? You mean you don't mind that I'm… broken?"

"You aren't broken. You just got a little banged up in the move. Next time we'll have fun. Besides, it isn't like this can happen every time we go out is it?"

"Pretty improbable," I admitted. We smiled. "Next time, I pick the movie though. That one sucked." Ian laughed.

"Deal."

The next morning Ian met me on the beach. "I wasn't sure you'd be here today. You seemed dead on your feet last night."

I laughed. He had no idea. "I was up. I don't even use an alarm clock any more. I just get up."

He grinned. "I had fun last night. A lot of fun. Even with that awful movie and people showing up out of nowhere. I think next time we should go to dinner. We can go to the crab shack down on Pier Ave. You ever been there?" I shook my head. "It's great."

"So…" I said. I wasn't really sure what to say.

"So Thursday night?"

"Sounds fun," I told him. And it did.

I was working breakfast shift again with Emily. She made a beeline for me the minute I walked in. "Tell me everything. Did he kiss you?"

I flushed so hard I worried about my deodorant for a moment.

"I'll take that as a yes!" she squealed. "Oh My God! This is great!"

"He didn't kiss me," I managed to get out.

"You kissed him?" she asked. I didn't think that her smile could get any wider but I had been wrong.

"No! No kissing." Not yet. "We saw a horrible movie and ate dinner and walked down to the pier. That's it."

For a moment she looked slightly crestfallen. "Did he pay for everything? Did you hold hands?"

I laughed. "What are we? Six?" I laughed at her face. "Yes," I said. "To both." I flushed again and quickly picked up my pad of paper and left the kitchen.

We were always busy on Saturday mornings- especially so close to the holidays. People were up trying to get a jump on their shopping. My tables were all full of people ready to start their day- even if it did look ready to rain at any minute.

I was on a roll. I felt a million times better than I had the night before and I was so light-hearted that I didn't even stumble once as I made my way around to all my tables. Even my tips were looking good.

I knew it couldn't last.

"Good morning!" I chirped at the people at my table- both of whom were buried in their menus. 'My name is Bella and I'll be your server today. Do you need a few more minutes?"

Alice looked up at me. "Please don't be mad. I just want to talk to you. Please, Bella."

I forced my face to remain calm. "I have nothing to say to you, Alice. Now if you aren't going to order anything, kindly vacate the table for other customers."

"Bella!" But I ignored her. I went on to my next table. By the time I got around to looking back at the table they had been at, I saw that they had left. Walking over to the table, I began to clear it as usual and found, to my annoyance, a twenty dollar bill and a note.

"Bella,

Please talk to me. You don't understand. It isn't safe here. Call me,"

She left her phone number and that was it.

Blood pounded in my ears. I wasn't sure what I was more upset about: the money or the way that she thought she could just come in and ruin my life again.

My Shift was almost over so I did the best I could trying to keep my mind on my work but it kept fluttering over the events of the twelve hours. It didn't add up. Why now? Why were they here? Why was it Alice and Jasper- Jasper- the main reason for Edward leaving to begin with? Where were the rest of the Cullens? My mind kept going over everything in my head.

After work I went down to the YMCA where Ian worked in the winter. He'd already gone home. I needed to clear my head so I walked down to the street that ran along the water. The shops were mostly closed up for the season but a few were sticking out in hopes of a Christmas rush. The signs of the coming holidays were beginning to crop up. I found I couldn't remember last Christmas. It was lost in a haze for me.

I tried to focus on the problem at hand: what to do about Alice. Somehow, though, I found my mind kept wandering back. I thought about that first day at Forks High- watching them pretend to be normal… sitting next to Edward in Biology. I thought about the weeks and months that followed. I remembered every shining moment right up until my birthday last year. Every joke and every touch- I held them all locked in my mind.

It wasn't real, Bella, I told myself over and over again. It was game for him- for all of them.

So why was Alice here now?

I looked at her note. "It isn't safe here?" What was that supposed to mean? Was it her way of trying to get me to call her? Or was something really wrong?

I was so focused on what I was thinking about that I didn't see the woman until it was too late. I ran right into her and found myself sitting on the cold sidewalk looking up at her. The blood froze in my veins.

She wasn't tall or beautiful by modern standards, but a few centuries ago I bet they loved her. Her long blond curls were everything I had wanted as a little girl and her skin was pale as moonlight. But it was her eyes that stopped me from moving- or even breathing.

They were red.

The vampire standing over me stared down at me for a moment as if trying to figure out what she should do next. A part of my mind told me I should run or at least tr to run, but my body wasn't reacting the way I wanted it to.

"I thought you'd be taller," she said with a thin accent of some kind.

I blinked. What? What was she talking about? Why was I still alive?

She took a long, deep breath in. "Carlisle was right, you do smell nice."

My mind boggled. "Carlisle?" I managed.

"Well, not in so many words. He's far too much of a gentleman for that. He always was…" Her voice trailed off and I had the feeling she wasn't talking about me anymore.

"What do you want?" I asked.

Her focus snapped back to me. There was no way this woman could pass for human. No one would ever mistake her for anything less than supernatural. "I want you to get up," she said. "You won't do anyone any good if you get sick, now will you?"

I stared at her for a moment trying to figure out what it was that she wanted before I slowly got to my feet. She saw my hesitation and laughed.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said. Somehow I didn't like the way she said that last word. "It would defeat the purpose."

"So… umm…"I stammered. Real articulate, Bella. Way to astound her with your wit.

"Go home," she said. "Keep doing whatever it was you were doing." She turned to go. "And if Cassandra or Andrea or whatever her name is, tells you to run, tell her that we made a deal." And with that, she was gone.

What was going on?

TBC? Review and let me know what you think! It only takes a minute.


	7. Chapter 7 Better As A Memory

Title: Promises to Keep

By: Cheddar the Cheese

Chapter Six: Better As A Memory

Summery: A single moment can mean nothing or everything. Bella finds a way to live after a part of her dies.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I do own the plot and any original characters that may pop up.

Note: This chapter dedicated to Muggle 1983 for making me laugh!

I struggle sometimes to find the words  
always sure until I doubt  
walk a line until it blurs  
build walls too high to climb out  
but I'm honest to a fault, it's just who I am  
I'm better as a memory…  
I see you leanin', you're bound to fall  
I don't wanna be that mistake  
I'm just a dreamer, n' nothing more  
you should know it before it gets too late  
cause goodbyes are like a roulette wheel  
you never know where they're gonna land  
first you're spinning, then you're standing still  
left holding a losin' hand  
one day you're gonna find someone  
right away, you'll know it's true  
that all of your seeking is done  
Its just a part of the passing through  
right there in that moment  
you'll finally understand  
that I was better as a memory…

-Better as a Memory by Kenny Chesney.

I didn't call Alice. It was everything I could do not to get in my truck and leave Texas altogether.

Instead, I called Ian. We talked for four hours about everything and nothing. It was just what I needed to get my head around thing. By the time I hung up, my ear hurt and I was ready to face whatever fate had in store for me this time.

In the morning, it was raining so hard that for a moment I thought I was back in Forks. I burrowed deeper under my blankets but sleep wouldn't come back. I had gotten up every morning at the same time for so long that my body refused to go back to sleep.

I got up and looked out the window. There was no way I was going to the beach today. I didn't even really want to go to work in the afternoon but I did. It wasn't like we were busy. No one wanted to face the rain.

The next few days followed the same pattern. I felt I was stuck in a place of waiting- I didn't see Alice, Jasper, or the mysterious vampire again in those days. I simply waited for the other shoe to drop.

But it didn't come.

I began to think I dreamed it all- that whole twenty-four hours. As the days passed, it slipped further and further fron my mind until I only thought of it occasionally as I lay down to sleep at night. Even then, it didn't last long.

Every day I talked to Ian and every day I felt the walls around my heart crumbling a little more. There was something about him that made butterflies jump to life in my stomach. I had never felt this way- even about Edward.

That was what had me confused. Wasn't I supposed to be depressed or terrified? Sure I missed Jacob, but I knew in my heart that he would want this for me- for me to be happy. And I was. I was happy with Ian- he was someone I never felt I had to lie to. And the terror that I knew I should be feeling just wasn't overtaking me. My red-eyed visitor and Alice's cryptic comments only left me annoyed. Edward was willing to let me live my life and be human, why couldn't everyone else?

By the time that Thanksgiving came around, I had nearly forgotten that any of it had happened. I was so happy being with Ian and Emily that I didn't have time to worry about what may be happening. As the days passed and nothing big and scary showed up to kill me, I began to think that I had all been something that Alice had made up. It was another game for the immortals.

"Are you ready?" Ian asked as I climbed into his car.

"I'm a little nervous," I admitted.

He laughed. "Don't worry; everyone is going to love you. It's only dinner."

"Yeah, Thanksgiving dinner with my boyfriend's family. No sweat."

Ian laughed. I liked it when he did that. It was so carefree and honest that I felt like laughing along with him. "It won't be that bad. My mother already thinks you're wonderful and my dad likes everyone so you have nothing to worry about."

"So what about everyone else?" I said trying not to giggle at his smile.

"You mean my brothers?" I nodded. His grin got wider if that was possible. "I can beat them up. It's not a problem."

I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean."

"I do. I'm just giving you a hard time. You're going to have to get over this thing you have."

"What thing is that?" I asked somewhat coldly.

"That thing you do where you think you aren't worthy of respect. You can't understand why people like you."

I was silent for a moment. I didn't know how to respond that that. I hadn't even realized that it was a problem. I just thought it was amazing how I had been so lucky to meet first Edward, and then Ian. And Jacob. I missed him less and less as the days went by but there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't thank whatever gods were listening that I'd had him as a friend-even if only for a little while.

"I just don't understand how I got so lucky," I murmured.

"You think you're lucky? Imagine how I felt!" He laughed. "There was this girl on the beach and she looked like the world had kicked her hard and I took a chance and said hello. God! When she smiled, I thought the world was made of magic for a minute. Do you know what I would give if I could make you smile all the time?"

Every word was said with such honest and open truth that I sat there, slightly shocked for a moment.

I missed smiling. I realized then that since Edward had left, almost every time I had smiled, it was because of the man sitting next to me. That thought alone made me smile. Ian smiled back.

"That's the smile I mean," He said as he took my hand. We were off to Huston.

His family was big. They filled the big house until I felt like it was as small as Charlie's house. It was the most amazing feeling of home I had ever experienced.

Ian's brothers- all five of them- spent of the day in front of the TV playing video games. The youngest, a sweet faced boy of nine who looked just like I imagined Ian to look at that age- came over to sit next to me on the couch.

"Are you gonna marry my brother?" he asked me in a very serious tone.

"What?" I stuttered blushing.

"You heard me," he said very sincerely as he rolled his eyes. Ian had overheard the question it seemed for he was watching my face with a wide grin. "Are you going to marry Ian?"

The rest of the boys heard Jack's earnest question this time and turned to stare.

"Dude," one of them muttered. "I ain't wearin' a tux. No way." It was the perfect thing to break the tension.

"No, I'm not," I managed. I knew I was as red as Jack's sweater but I didn't care. The boys began to tease their oldest brother who took it with a good natured humor for about ten minutes before he tackled the brother nearest to him. In a flash it looked like a snake pit full of angry rattle snakes that I had seen once in a fair in Arizona.

Ian's mother came in at that moment. She was a tiny woman with a huge heart and an iron fist. She put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. The room became instantly still as the boys all froze and turned to look expectantly at their mother. She turned to me.

"I'm sorry, Bella. Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't have drowned a few of them at birth," she said with a fond smile.

"It's ok, Mrs. Sharpe. Really."

"Jack asked if she was gonna marry Ian," someone piped up.

Mrs. Sharpe's face was shocked for a moment as she tried to take a covert look at my left hand. Seeing it was bare, she grinned. "Well, it's time for dinner. Go get cleaned up and get back down here."

In a moment, all six of the Sharpe brothers were racing and shoving their way up the stairs. "Bella," said Mrs. Sharpe. "You can use my bathroom. It's through there," she said pointing to the back of the house.

"Thanks," I said as I slipped into the quiet space to wash up for dinner.

Dinner was a loud affair with everyone talking and laughing. It was easy to see where Ian got his easy laugh from. His bright eyes came from his mother and his laid-back ease came from his father. His brothers were all as different as you could imagine but they were all unfailing polite when they had to be and each one knew that no matter what, he always had a place to come home to. It was the most loving and rambunctious family I'd ever seen.

After dinner, Ian and I decided to go for a walk. It was cool out but it wasn't as cold as I knew it would be in Forks this time of year. We walked down the street hand-in-hand. A few other couples were out walking in the green twilight.

I led me through the light mist that had begun to fall. His hair was pulling into tight curls and I knew my own hair must look a mess. But I didn't care. A part of my mind was still on Jack's innocent face sitting next to me on the couch.

We wandered into a small park and found a relatively dry bench. I was comfortable to just sit there with him and watch the mist falling, but Ian had other plans.

He kissed me softly and began to kiss along my jaw line. I took his hand clasped in mine, and brought it to my mouth to kiss it softly. "Bella," he whispered in my ear. "Bella, I… I think I'm falling in love with you."

I froze. The words rang in my head like a church bell gone off right next to me. Love…

"Ian, I-"

But he didn't let me finish. "I know you don't feel the same way, but, Bella, I couldn't not tell you. You're all I think about. I dream about you- about the way you smile and the way you looked that first day on the beach. Bella, I love everything about you- I even love that you aren't ready yet."

I felt the tears burning tracks down my face. "I don't want to lose you," I whispered. "But I'm not ready for this. It's too much… It's too fast."

"You aren't going to lose me. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me to. We can take it as slowly as you want to. I just want to be there for you. I want to see you when you remember what it means to be alive again. Bella, every day I'm with you, I see you rediscovering your life and that is the most incredible thing in the world to me."

I couldn't find the words to reply. "I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't apologize. When you're ready, you'll know. It will be worth it in the end. We've got forever, Bella."

"Forever?" I asked. "No one has forever." Not us at least. Edward had forever.

"We don't need forever, Bella. We've got tomorrow. And tomorrow's tomorrow. What else do we need?"

I buried my head in his shoulder as I cried. What else do we need? What if I do need forever?

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	8. Chapter 8 Both Sides Now

Title: Promises to Keep

By: Cheddar the Cheese

Second Interlude: Both Sides Now

Summery: A single moment can mean nothing or everything. Bella finds a way to live after a part of her dies.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I do own the plot and any original characters that may pop up.

Note: EDWARD'S HERE! Yay!

Please take the time to review. I would love to hear more people's feedback.

I've looked at love from both sides now  
From give and take, and still somehow  
Its loves illusions I recall  
I really don't know love at all  
Tears and fears and feeling proud  
To say I love you right out loud  
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds  
I've looked at life that way  
But now old friends are acting strange  
They shake their heads, they say I've changed  
Well something's lost, but something's gained  
In living every day  
I've looked at life from both sides now  
From win and lose and still somehow  
Its life's illusions I recall  
I really don't know life at all

-Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell

"You appear to be too late." The voice rang out in the stone room and echoed in his head.

Edward Cullen stood in front of the Vultori letting nothing show on his face. "Too late?"

He was proud of how he was able to keep the emotion out of his voice.

"You did not know?" Caius asked with a show of shock written on his face. "I thought surely you would have heard by now."

"Heard what?" Edward ground out, forcing the words past his teeth.

Aro narrowed his eyes. "Victoria is dead."

Edward swallowed just to calm his nerves. He studied the three stoic figures seated before him. Giving a slight bow he said, "I thank you for your time then." With that, he turned to leave.

"Boy!" Aro called sharply. Edward froze and turned back to face the trio. Aro was studying him with intense curiosity. "I am not finished yet. I wish to speak to you- as a friend of Carlisle." His brothers were staring at him in confusion, but he ignored them as he stood up quickly.

Edward followed obediently behind, just ahead of Aro's personal guard. His mind was reeling with the new information. Victoria was dead. He was not paying much attention. In a moment, all of his plans had changed. Alice had said that there was a vampire trying to kill Bella. An old friend of Carlisle's had said that someone was after her. Victoria was the only vampire that Edward could think of that might want to kill Bella. She hadn't met any others besides the Cullens.

The question now was what did this mean for his plans? He had planned on gaining the permission to kill Victoria with no repercussions. It solved everything. Bella would be safe and Edward would not be killed for killing Victoria. Whatever Aro had to say, it had better be good but he could tell nothing from the thoughts around him.

Aro's office was not the grand sweeping place that Edward had been expecting. It was large with a large tinted window facing East. Paintings hung on the stone walls with tapestries lending an air of other to the room. There was a large desk in one corner with a very modern computer humming away. Two soft leather couches sat facing each other over a large wooden table that was strewn with books.

It was on one of these couches that Aro sat. He dismissed the guards that followed them and leaned back to study Edward.

_Young… Carlisle's son… Not as impulsive as my brothers think… Doesn't know what he started…__ Mind reader._

And then suddenly he stopped thinking. Edward had never been so shocked in his life. A person cannot simply stop thinking. Thoughts always drifted around in a person's head. They could avoid thinking about something but then they thought harder about other things. His shock must have shone on his face.

"A useful trick I picked up over time. There are those that can read a person's thoughts on their face the same as you pick them out of their head. Only they are more dangerous, Edward. What you do- and what I do to an extent- can be done with none the wiser but you never want someone studying your face too long. You never know what it is they will read. Better to think nothing. Feel nothing."

"You may be able to turn off your thoughts, but in my experience, emotions don't follow your mind."

"Which brings us here today," Aro said smoothly. "You love this girl and yet you have left her alone. I wonder what the most foolish part of you is. There is the part that loves a human girl enough to kill for her. And there is the part of you that gave up that love to protect her. Damned if you and damned if you don't."

Edward mentally grimaced at the use of the word damned. Even if it weren't for all the sins he had committed, he was planning on killing himself eventually. Suicides don't walk on the golden shores.

He said nothing. Aro watched him in silence.

"What did you bring me here for?" Edward finally asked. He knew it was rude but he didn't care.

"What do you know about Victoria and James, Edward?"

Edward thought for a moment. "I know James was a tracker. He liked to follow young women- Like Bella and my sister, Alice. They had been together for a long time."

"Almost two hundred years. He hadn't been a vampire for more than a few years before he found her." Aro shifted back in his seat and gestured for Edward to sit across from him. "Please, sit." So Edward sat but he wasn't comfortable.

"Some two hundred years ago- seventeen sixty something- we had a party here. Carlisle was still here. One of the evening's entertainments was- well, children. I think that was what finally drove your father away from us. James was a babe in arms and he disappeared from a hall filled with vampires. I learned later that the child had been stolen by a woman who was sleeping with Carlisle."

Edward's stomach was in knots. If he could have thrown up, he would have. This being sitting there so causally was talking about the slaughter of children- babies even- as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The thought of Carlisle sleeping with a woman who wasn't Esme was faintly disturbing as well but he knew that his father was a man and four hundred years is a long time to be celibate.

"She had been lovers with Alfonso for longer than anyone really knew and when she and your father started their affair, Alfonso became enraged. He tracked the boy and waited. When he was old enough, he turned him. He sent James off into the world to find Carlisle and destroy him. Only you killed James before he could get to him. Which leaves us with Alfonso. He came to us not long ago and requested the rights to the blood of Carlisle's clan. He included in his list, a human girl."

Edward felt his blood freeze in his veins. "Bella."

"You remind me of myself- many years ago. I too was in love once. I would have done anything for her."

Edward sat motionless, listening. "Will you help me?"

Aro studied him for a long moment and Edward resisted the urge to listen to his thoughts. "If you kill Alfonso, I can promise you that you will find no further repercussions. I cannot rescind the permission we extended to Alfonso but if you get to him before he gets to any of you, it will be over."

Aro stood up and turned his back on him. Edward had the feeling that the meeting was over. He stood. "Thank you," he said. "For telling me- and for your promise. Thank you."

"Do not be the fool who left the girl he loves. Fools never survive in the end," said Aro without turning. Edward nodded, know that Aro couldn't see him but doing it anyway, and left.

Bella was in Texas. Alice had said it seemed like she had really moved on with her life- a thought that had nearly crippled him. But he knew that Bella would be too stubborn to ask for help and even if she had moved on with her life, he couldn't imagine a world without her in it.

"I'm coming, Bella."

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	9. 9 Help Me Make It Through The Night

Title: Promises to Keep

By: Cheddar the Cheese

Chapter Seven: Help Me Make It Through The Night

Summery: When Edward left, he thought that it would make her life better- instead, he left her to a world that she was not ready to face.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I do own the plot and any original characters that may pop up.

Note: Sorry it's taken so long to update. I'm a costumer and Halloween is always busy for me. I hope you all have a fun and safe holiday!

* * *

Take the ribbon from your hair, Shake it loose and let it fall,  
Lay it soft against my skin. Like the shadows on the wall.

Come and lay down by my side till the early morning light  
All I'm takin' is your time. Help me make it through the night.

I don't care what's right or wrong, I won't try to understand.  
Let the devil take tomorrow Cause tonight I need a friend.

Yesterday is dead and gone and tomorrow's out of sight  
And it's sad to be alone. Help me make it through the night.  
-Help Me Make it Through the Night  
***

* * *

A week later, I found myself pacing my tiny apartment- my fingers itching to pick up my phone. I didn't know who to call but I still reached for it and dialed the number without knowing who I was calling.

"Hi, you've reached Emily's phone. I'm not in right now but leave a message and I'll call you back!"

Emily. Emily who hadn't been at work the last two days. No one seemed to have heard from her. Fear knotted in my stomach. That vampire- the blonde from a few months ago- the night Alice was here- had she gotten Emily?

Suddenly, my apartment seemed too small. It was too hot and the fear was clawing at my belly like a trapped animal. I grabbed my coat and headed out with no thought as to where I was going. I barely remembered to throw my cell phone in my pocket.

It looked like it would rain but my mind didn't care. I thought about calling Ian but I didn't. Ever since we had gotten back from his parent's house, something had changed. I couldn't place just what it was, but we had both changed as people in those five days. Emily and I had analyzed every angle of that night but neither of us knew what the root of the change could be.

I found my way down to the beach- my default place to go when I needed to think. The wind was picking up and the warm sea water sprayed on my face. My hand was closed tightly around my phone. I should call Ian. I could go over to his place and we could talk. I should tell him all of it- the truth this time. No, he'd think I was crazy.

I almost tripped over it which made it worse. When I regained my balance and turned to see what it was, I thought it was a prank. It didn't look real enough to be a human hand.

It had been severed at the wrist by someone without the proper tools and not a lot of time. Bits of red trailed out the end about an inch and the nails had turned slightly blue. But the thing that sent the chills racing through my body was the sand around it.

"Bella Swan." My name was carved into the sand with deep, sure strokes. It looked like someone had used a knife. Even my little stumble through it still left the words clear.

I felt a scream building up in my throat. Fear clawed at my chest. The Animal that had driven me out of my house that day was wide awake and running rampant though my body. My feet were rooted on the spot. I wanted desperately to run but my feet would not move.

I opened my mouth to scream but instead I began to cough. What? I opened my eyes and found myself sitting up in my own bed in my apartment. I blinked in the dim light of dawn as I looked around my apartment and shivered. It had gotten colder during the night and I stumbled out of bed to turn on the heater.

The dream had been so vivid that I found myself even an hour later, still shaking. I called Ian but he didn't pick up. I tried dialing Emily again but I got her answering machine again. I called Charlie but he was working. I felt very young and very alone.

Looking outside, the day looked just the same as it had in my dream. The grey skies hung over the city like a heavy, wet blanket. I felt my heart, like a stone in my chest, chug through its paces.

It jumped when my phone rang. The shrill sound cutting through the still morning like a child's cry and my heart was still racing as I breathlessly answered the phone. It was Ian. I wasn't as relived as I should have been.

He seemed nervous. "Do you want to go for a walk with me? We can get something to eat before you have to got to work."

I peered outside. I could almost smell the rain in the air. "Sure," I told him. I wanted to get out of the house.

"I'll be by in a few."

"Great," I said. I felt like I was saying that a lot. Mostly it was a lie.

I hung up the phone and quickly realized that I was still in my PJs. I scrambled to pull on jeans and a sweater. I pulled on one of Ian's baggy sweatshirts that he had left at my house one afternoon and shoved my phone and wallet into the pocket. Shoes on and I was ready right as Ian knocked on the door. I grabbed my keys and opened the door.

After the dream I'd had, I was suddenly grateful to see a friendly face. I wrapped my arms around his middle and try to absorb some of his warmth.

I felt him chuckle deep in his chest. "Not the welcome I was expecting, but it isn't unwelcome. What brought this on?"

I didn't want to tell him about the dream. In the harsh light of the hallway, it felt silly. "Just glad to see you," I said.

"I missed you," he said as he hugged me back. "Are you ready? I don't want to get caught in the rain."

"We could take my truck," I said.

"Why? It isn't raining yet." Ian loved being outside. He loved the beach and the water in ways that made me think that he was really a fish in disguise. I teased him about it but it was something that I loved about him.

So we walked- and as we walked, we talked. We talked about nothing in particular but it felt good. It felt the way we used to be before he told me he loved me. Part of my mind wanted to tell him that I loved him back, but my heart wouldn't say the words.

We made our way to the beach and I had managed to push the dream to the very back of my mind. Instead, it was just Ian and myself and the beach where we had first met. We made our way toward the lifeguard stand that he had manned all summer and we were laughing and smiling and kissing and so I wasn't too shocked to find myself flat on my rear in the sand when I tripped.

The laughing stopped immediately- like someone flipped a switch. The hand lay on the sand just like I had seen it in my dream. Every detail was the same right down to the way the sand had my name carved in it and the bluish tint to the nails.

Ian was there in a flash trying to pick me up and move me so I couldn't see it all at once. He was calling my name but I didn't answer. I was afraid that if I opened my mouth I would start screaming. It was building up inside me- bubbling in my throat. The air was too close. I opened my mouth to breath and I felt the air rush into my lungs, but it got stuck in my chest. I couldn't let it out.

But I could and I did and I screamed. I couldn't stop. I didn't stop until long after the police had come.

The hand had come from someone who had been alive. It was a woman's hand- a young woman. I kept seeing Emily's face in my mind, but the police didn't want to confirm that it was her's. They kept asking me if I had enemies- did I know anyone who would do this? I was having a hard time clinging to the lies that I had spent the last year weaving around myself.

I did know who or what could and would do this but I didn't have a name. The blonde vampire from months ago floated through my mind, but somehow I knew it wasn't her. Ian didn't bring it up. He held my hand all through it. I didn't want to let go.

* * *

They kept us for hours. At times it seemed like they thought we were pulling a prank on them. I called the restaurant to tell them I wouldn't be in. They weren't happy but I didn't care. I wanted to tell them about Emily but the officer standing over me as I talked stopped me.

By the time they decided that the threat was real, I was almost falling off my chair. I had never been so bone weary in all my life. It made the days after Jacob's death seem bright and cherry in comparison. Was I destined to lose everyone I cared about? The thought sent violent shivers through my body. I clung tighter to Ian. He never wavered. He just held me closer.

I didn't want to go home. Ian took me to his apartment and held me as I lost it. I clung to him as if I were drowning and he would save me. We were like two ropes, tied together for so long that it would be impossible t undo the knot. I twined myself around him like the contact would keep me sane. I cried long into the night until sometime around midnight when I became aware.

I was aware of how hot it had become and the way I had soaked both our clothes. I was sweating with fear and loss. I wanted a shower but I didn't want to move from the safety of Ian's arms. Looking up into his eyes, I felt like I could have loved this man deeply if it hadn't been for Edward. But I never would have met him if it weren't for Edward. My head hurt with the circular thinking.

I touched his face. He needed to shave and I suddenly longed to rub my face against the rough surface of his skin. I kissed him instead. I kissed him long and hard.

"Bella…" he whispered.

"Just kiss me," I begged. "Please."

And he did. He wrapped his arms around me and let me fall.

That was the night that I lost my heart to Ian in ways that Edward could never touch.

I lost more than my heart that night. And for a while, nothing else mattered except Ian and I and the love we escaped to even as the real world closed in around us. I knew that after that night, I would never be the same.

She kept screaming. He wanted to hit her but he needed her alive. The smell of her blood filled the room but he held his control in an iron grip. She couldn't die yet.

Her death was secondary to the real plan. She was a stepping stone on the way to his true goal. The goal was all that mattered. And he had never failed in his goals. And he never would.

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	10. Chapter 10 Breathe

Title: Promises to Keep

By: Cheddar the Cheese

Chapter Eight: Breathe

Summery: When Edward left, he thought that it would make her life better- instead, he left her to a world that she was not ready to face.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I do own the plot and any original characters that may pop up.

Note: A short chapter this time. But it's important.

Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable,  
And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table.  
No one can find the rewind button boys,  
So cradle your head in your hands,  
And breathe, just breathe,  
Whoa breathe, just breathe

There's a light at each end of this tunnel, you shout  
'Cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out  
These mistakes you've made, you'll just make them again  
If you only try turning around.

-Breath (2AM)

It was warm and safe where I was. I didn't want to open my eyes because of that pressing feeling in my mind that there was something outside of my warm safe place that I did not want to face. But I didn't have the option of staying there. Someplace outside of myself, my phone was ringing.

I opened my eyes and found myself face to face with Ian. His eyes were silted open and he stared blearily at me.

"You stayed," he murmured as he pulled me closer to him.

I didn't have the awareness at the time to reply. I reached for my phone but ended up elbowing Ian in the ribs. He grunted as I wrapped my fingers around the phone.

"Hello?" I answered even as I watched him.

"Did you like my gift?" asked the voice on the other end of the line. "I had fun picking it out for you, Bella."

My mind was suddenly awake. "Who is this? Where's Emily? What have you done with her?"

He laughed. "I'll see you soon, Bella Swan. The rest is irrelevant." And the line was dead.

My hands were not working as I tried to hang up the phone. "Ian," I said. My voice was shaking so bad I wasn't sure he heard me. But he understood.

"Was it them? The people who took Emily?" He asked me even as he had my phone and was dialing.

I managed to nod. The world seemed very surreal to me. The colors, muted by the predawn pallor, seemed sharp and clear and bright. The world was suddenly harsh lines and distinct shapes. Ian's voice seemed to float in from somewhere underwater. His hand running up and down my arm was warm. I wanted to huddle into that warmth but a dim part of my mind knew that that was over. I felt like I would never be warm again.

Ian hung up the phone with a loud, sharp snap. I jumped and he put his arms around me. "It's alright, Bella. They'll be here soon. They can trace the call. We'll get her back. Don't worry." But he was wrong.

There had been something in that voice that I knew very very well. There was a strange cadence to the voice- an odd way of saying words that no one still living still used. No one living…

"I need to get home. I need to call…" But who was I going to call? Edward? I'm sure that would go over well: Hi, Eddie! Remember me? The girl you hate? Well, anyways, my new boyfriend and I were wondering if you could…What? Help us track down a vampire?

"Bella, we have to stay here. The police are coming." The police… We couldn't tell the police about vampires. They couldn't know. I wasn't supposed to know. Sometimes I wished I didn't know… Only sometimes.

I nodded. "I have to go to the bathroom," I said. Ian didn't say anything. He just shifted over so I could climb off the bed and padded into the bathroom.

The bathroom was cool and white with tile on the floors. I splashed water on my face. It was ice cold and woke me up. I took a moment to take deep breaths.

What did I know? There weren't a lot of facts to look at but I was determined to figure it out.

First: Emily was missing. She'd been missing for over a week. No one had heard from her. She hadn't called anyone and no one had known she was missing until she didn't show up for work the day after Thanksgiving.

Second: I had found Emily's hand on the beach. I went to the beach whenever I needed to get out of the house. Someone had known that I would eventually find my way down to the beach.

Third: I'd had a dream about finding the hand the night before. In fact, that dream had been what had sent me down to the water in the first place.

Fourth: The phone call I had gotten just moments ago had come from someone who had known a lot about me. He had admitted that he had left the hand for me on the beach. He had also said that he would see me soon. The thought sent chills down my spine but it wasn't what mattered. I had to focus. The caller had been a man with a faint accent of some kind. It sounded vaguely Latin. It hadn't been a particularly deep voice but it felt somehow obscene.

And that was it. It wasn't a lot to go on but it was something. No, it wasn't. I was missing a giant piece of the puzzle. It was like I was a pawn on a chess board that couldn't see what the rest of the pieces were doing.

That was when I realized that I did have more information.

The vampires.

Back when Ian and I had our first date, there had been vampires- three of them. I knew that Jasper had only followed Alice. She had come because she knew something. And what had I done? I pushed her away. I ignored her.

And that same night there had been the other vampire- the strange woman with the blonde hair and red eyes. She had seemed to know something as well. She knew Carlisle. She had known a lot. But it was clearly not her voice on the phone. So who was she and was she involved in this? She had to be. She'd known things she shouldn't as well.

So somehow, it was clear to me now, there were vampires involved. But why? It was clearly a planned and deliberate attack on myself but by whom? All the vampires who might have reason to kill me, were dead. James and Laurent and Victoria. They were all gone. So who?

"Bella?" Ian asked through the door. "Is everything alright?"

I wanted to tell him no. Nothing was ok. Emily was being tortured because of me and the madman who took her was coming for me next. Nothing was alright.

"I'm fine. I'll be there in a minute," I called through the door.

Ian seemed like he wanted to argue but at that moment, the doorbell rang. Ian went to answer the door as I pulled myself together.

For the next few hours, I recounted the entire thirty second conversation fifty times. I told them everything I could think of about the voice, about Emily, and I told them what I could about my history. I think I did well putting them off the scent of anything that might lead to the supernatural.

By the time they had left, the sun was high in the sky and I was hungry. The day was bright with a sharp cold blowing on the wind. Ian was pacing the living room so I excused myself to take a shower.

The warm water pounding on my back wrapped me in a kind of peace. I didn't want to get out. I knew in my heart that I owed it to Ian to tell him the truth. But I couldn't tell him all of it. There were parts of the story I couldn't tell him… Like Vampires. He'd laugh… he'd have me committed. But I had to tell him something.

I was wrapped in one of Ian's bathrobes and was drying my hair when I heard my cell phone ringing in the next room. I rushed out to grab it and saw a number I didn't know. The blood froze in my veins.

Ian was standing in the doorway. "Answer it," he said. "If it's Emily…" He trailed off but he didn't have to say anymore.

"Hello?" I said, hating the way my voice shook.

"Bella? Bella, get out of the house! Run!" It was Alice. Alice who knew what was going to happen- who knew that if I stayed in the house…

"Alice? What's going on?" Even as I spoke, I grabbed Ian's hand and dragged him to the front door.

"He's coming, Bella! Hurry."

We were nearly to the door when the window shattered. I screamed. On the phone, Alice was yelling my name. I turned around to see what had happened.

The vampire was standing amid the shattered glass like a diamond god. I didn't see anything else because Ian pushed me behind him.

"No, Ian," I cried. But it was too late. The strike sent him to the floor like a stone. I turned to face the vampire and he grinned at me. It was the most terrifying smile I had ever seen. It was cold and hard with not mirth behind it. His red eyes sparkled with hate- old hate that I couldn't understand.

"Did you like my gift, Bella? I told you I'd see you soon."

A part of me wanted to run and part of me wanted to throw myself on Ian to see if he was still alive.

"Bella! Bella!" The small tinny voice of Alice came out of the phone that lay amid the glass on the floor.

In a flash, the vampire was there. "Oh, I don't think so, Bella. No, we can't have that." And he crushed the phone into dust.

Turning to me with the cold hard smile of a madman, he glared at me." I truly hope you enjoyed my gift, Bella. And I know exactly how much you are going to enjoy being a gift for Edward."

He took a step toward me and all of my courage disserted me. The world swam black and I knew nothing more for a long time.

TBC?


End file.
